Political analyst Tobias Harris wrote a very thoughtful assessment of my book, The Contest for Japan's Economic Future, on his blog, part of which pointed out the serious political hurdles to implementing pro-entrepreneurship reforms. I had pondered over these hurdles myself and the concluding Part V of the book is devoted to seeing how these hurdles could be overcome. While success remains an uphill climb, impactful social, economic, and technological changes give Japan its greatest chance for genuine recovery in a generation. In part, that's because the LDP's current strategy for rule--shoring up incumbents, both large and small--undermines the necessary condition for its dominance: decent rates of per capita growth. In part, that's because the deeper trends create the possibility of an alternative socio-economic coalition, whether under the LDP or an alternation of parties in power. This post summarizes my political scenario. See: https://richardkatz.substack.com/p/the-snowball-effect-and-economic

Richard Katz